1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to modified ionomers which are characterized by low gloss, excellent metal adhesion, and good weatherability, and which are particularly useful in forming trims used in the automotive industry.
2. Prior Art
Innumerable thermoplastics have previously been proposed for making trim or edging used in the automotive industry and otherwise, but with less than the desired degree of success where low gloss and/or metal adhesiveness is concerned. However, continued research has been directed to these problems particularly in the attainment of low-gloss trim and adequate adhesiveness in coatings formed on metal trim. Such low-gloss trim or coatings are highly desirable from an aesthetic standpoint, since their appearance is not greatly impaired during the course of their useful life, as is the case with glossy materials which lose their gloss during use with attendant appearance of aging. Metal surface coatings, such as vinyl thermoplastics, can thus be prepared so as to have some advantageous characteristics but, unfortunately, their adherence to metal leaves a great deal to be desired, so that adequate adhesion is only attained after the employment of a great many steps, even as many as nine steps, all of which must be considered pretreatments of the metal to which the vinyl is desired to adhere prior to the actual step of coating the metal. Numerous other thermoplastics have been proposed as metal surface coatings, especially for the automotive field, and these, although having greater or lesser degrees of adhesiveness to metal surfaces when compared with the previously-mentioned vinyl thermoplastics, are not characterized by low-gloss. At present no satisfactory metal-adherent thermoplastics are available which provide a combination of adequate adhesion to the metal and low gloss and, in fact, no adequate low-gloss thermoplastics of any kind are presently available in the art for such use. Moreover, in addition to the problem of the difficulty of attaining metal adhesiveness, even assuming that this characteristic has been adequately attained in prior art thermoplastics, the problem of adequate weatherability remains, as a result of which even the best metal adherent thermoplastics to date are characterized by unfortunate shortcomings such as fading, lost gloss when such originally exists, and loss of adhesiveness when exposed to the elements over any extended period such as is commonly encountered during the use of an automobile. It is therefore apparent that available metal coatings, especially such as are adapted for employment in the automotive field, are characterized by numerous failures and shortcomings, which have not been remedied according to the present state of the art, so that the provision of new and advantageous thermoplastic metal coatings, which are not subject to such failures and shortcomings as just enumerated and which are accordingly particularly well-adapted and suitable for use in the automotive area, would be highly desirable and would fill a long-felt need in the art.